Shettar wants investment in tier II, III cities

Chief Minister Jagadish Shettar on Thursday asked industry members in the state to invest in tier II and tier III cities, besides Bangalore and especially in North Karnataka.

“Industries must be shifted to smaller cities to ensure uniform progress,” he said at the centenary celebrations of Department of Industry and Commerce here.

Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Large and Medium Industries, Murugesh Nirani, said that the government would present its textile and solar power policies in the next 15 days.

“The target under the solar policy is to achieve 1000 MW of solar generation with about 8-10 parks of 100 MW capacity,” Nirani said, adding that the North Karnataka region was perfect for solar power generation.

Nirani also added that the state would have good incentives and subsidies to encourage industry growth in North Karnataka.

“Incentives for Bangalore will still exist but they will only be given to special projects which cannot be started anywhere else in the state. We will introduce an industry policy for 2013-18 with regards to this,” Nirani added.

Also in the pipeline is an online application process for industries wishing to invest in the state from February 1.

Nirani also promised to look into the long standing industry demand for abolition of trade license system and collection of property tax and take a decision within a week.

He also added that in the next cabinet meeting he would present the proposal to provide pension to former Karnataka Industrial Areas Development Board and District Industries Centre employees who are not receiving pension.

Nirani said that this year, the size of the state budget would be around Rs 1,30,000 crore. Nirani admitted that delays in arranging water and iron ore to steel factories who wanted to set up plants in the state had affected the image of Karnataka as an investment destination